The Talos Principle is more than a little surprising coming from Croteam, a developer known for the frantic action and bombastic explosions of the Serious Sam series.

Its latest is instead a thoughtful and restrained puzzle game, but the studio wears its shift in direction well, displaying an expert eye for puzzle design and world building with an existential hook that makes it a hard game to put down.

The puzzles are just fantastic, with each new set of challenges building on what you've already learned.

New puzzle solving tools are introduced regularly, from a jamming device that can shut down electronics and laser-redirecting crystals to a device that lets you play cooperatively with a recording of your own past actions.

Each tool brings new puzzle possibilities on its own, but Croteam has gone a step further where so many other puzzles games fall flat by fully exploring not only how the tools interact with the environment, but also how they can interact with each other.

Nothing is accidental in The Talos Principle. Every detail, every puzzle piece and even every off-hand joke about Jeff Goldblum is carefully and deliberately crafted.

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That is where The Talos Principle excels: it rigorously establishes and reinforces a set of rules for its puzzles and world, then gradually subverts its own rules and even rewards players for bending, breaking and testing its limits.

If you do get stuck on a puzzle there is a hint system, offering a limited number of hints as rewards for solving additional puzzles that are potentially even trickier than the one that stumped you. It's the game's way of strongly encouraging you to take a step back and figure out solutions on your own, while still providing the option if it is absolutely necessary.

Solving puzzles rewards you with sigils, Tetris-like pieces that, when arranged in the right pattern, can unlock new tools or open paths in the main hub world.

While each puzzle takes place in its own self-contained chamber, those walled-off puzzle regions are connected through larger hub worlds.

The hub worlds aren't just for show either, and as you explore each world you'll start uncovering many of the game's narrative secrets along with bonus puzzles that bring into question just how self-contained the main puzzle chambers really are.

This theme of challenging expectations is mirrored in the game's story as players are thrown in the middle of a narrative tug-of-war between faith and philosophy.

On the one hand you have Elohim, the benevolent voice in the sky encouraging you to solve puzzles, collect sigils, and trust that doing so will take you in the game where you need to go.

But then there are also computer terminals in each world that opens a dialog with someone who is a bit more skeptical of Elohim's master plan. Unlike Elohim, you can actually respond to your existentially-inclined pen pal on the computer, shaping future conversations and leading to multiple endings depending on how you agree or argue.

The Talos Principle walks a very fine line with its narrative, sometimes coming across like a high school student discovering Greek philosophy for the first time. However, the puzzles cleverly act as a way of grounding the whole experience.

At first the outwardly arbitrary nature of the puzzles seems at odds with the game's plot, and so you begin to question their purpose.

Are the puzzles really arbitrary, or is there a deeper meaning to them? And if you do see a deeper meaning in the puzzles, how can you tell if that meaning is intended by the game or just a justification in your own head?

In a brilliantly counter-intuitive fashion, the fact that the puzzles do not directly tie into the story actually helps the puzzles form an even stronger tie to the narrative's themes.

The philosophically-focused narrative invites questions like these, and the urge to find answers becomes the game's main driving force as you puzzle through Elohim's worlds and wonder about the ominous locked tower looming over everything.

Each tool brings new puzzle possibilities on its own, but Croteam has gone a step further where so many other puzzles games fall flat by fully exploring not only how the tools interact with the environment, but also how they can interact with each other.

Taken just as a puzzle game, it will tax your brain then satisfy with a steady stream of "aha!" moments to make you feel like a genius.

Taken just as a narrative, its existential carrot on a stick will keep you intrigued throughout the nearly twenty hour-long campaign. And that's just how long it takes to complete the bare minimum of puzzles.

Nothing is accidental in The Talos Principle though. Every detail, every puzzle piece and even every off-hand joke about Jeff Goldblum is carefully and deliberately crafted.

The Talos Principle ties its seemingly disparate parts together beautifully, making for a game that is every bit as smart as it purports to be.